China outwardly lauded the lifting of a U.S. arms embargo, saying it hoped “normal and friendly” relations between the U.S. and Vietnam are conducive to regional stability. A spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said bans are a product of the Cold War and shouldn’t have existed.
Well, that’s going a little too far in “outwardly lauding” the lifting of the arms embargo, don’tcha think, Chinese spokeswoman? I think there were some pretty darn good reasons we put the embargo in place to begin with.
That said, I have mixed feelings about this move. Vietnam has been for a long time now a “friendly” nation to the U.S. However, there are some troubling aspects here, primarily the human rights situation, their laws on freedom of speech, being a single-party nation. I know the Obama administration is under the gun with regards to the TPP trade agreement and with China breathing down our necks with regards to trade and militarily. China’s increasing aggression in the South China Sea is more than just a bit troubling. There are many pieces to this puzzle. As usual, rarely are there many easy or clear answers.
Activists said his decision to lift the embargo destroyed the best U.S. leverage for pushing Vietnam on abuse.
I wonder if anyone can provide a concrete example of a U.S. embargo that actually succeeded in causing another nation to make fundamental changes in its human rights performance. I can’t think of any, offhand.
Embargoes tend to make repressive regimes even more repressive, it would seem. They feed their paranoia.
Here’s hoping raising a ban and actually selling them some don’t go hand in hand.
As a Vietnam vet I say it is about F’ing time…I have no qualms at all.
You have a very unique and qualified understanding of the situation. It helps (me) to hear from folks such as yourself. Thank you.
Good luck with that. With all the hoohah about the cold war vestiges, countering China, etc., this ain’t nothing but opening another market for the military-industrial complex.
If there is one thing the world clearly needs it’s more military grade weapons.
/s
I’ve never figured out why the U.S. believes that it makes sense to sell arms to anyone. Unless, of course, the U.S. is run by the NRA, and Washington believes we’re all safer if we’re all armed…with U.S. weapons.